"Raheens win was the turning point for us" - Brian McLoughlin, Clane captain ahead of Kildare SFC final

A young and exciting Clane side will face the current champions Naas in what is sure to be an incredible SFC final. Led by captain Brian McLoughlin, Clane are in their first Senior decider for many years and it is safe to say they are looking forward to it.

McLoughlin said, “It’s special, doing it with the lads you grew up with is a dream come true. I was chatting with one of the lads earlier and looking back after the U20s at Tony Archbold getting to the final. I remember seeing him walking around in the parade and being jealous of him. It’s an exciting week ahead, I'm really looking forward to it.”

Clane have been the surprise package of this year’s Championship, having gotten over the line in the preliminaries they needed a last minute winner to beat Raheens in the opening round. They were key matches that were won but there were very few calling Tom Cribbin’s side Championship contenders.

McLoughlin said, “The turning point was the Raheens game, we weren't necessarily playing that well and that could have gone either way. I think getting over the line that day was a huge mental edge for us and gave us a huge chance in that group because we still had to face Celbridge and Sarsfields and what happened against Celbridge, it just all clicked and the energy was just brilliant.

“We caught Celbridge on the hop maybe but we knew Sarsfields would be well prepared for us but we battled with them.”
The Clane captain was also quick to heap praise on his manager and his staff for this Clane side reaching the final this year.

“Tom (Cribbin) has been a key factor and what he has brought with him with the incredible backroom staff too. They have really driven on the standards and instilled a belief within the group so I think that’s what it is, they believed in us from the start when maybe we didn’t believe in ourselves as much as we should have. Now I think we are all singing off the same hymn sheet.”

When asked about Clane’s free-flowing style of play that has garnered so much attention McLoughlin said, “We are never phased by it. We play our own brand of football and you hear Tom in every interview saying we try to get the ball in as quickly as possible. It’s an attractive style and people obviously like looking at that.”

The team aside, McLoughlin has personally enjoyed a fantastic season in this attacking setup and said, “As a forward it’s brilliant, it’s a dream come true, the last thing you want to be doing is delaying the ball and then they have four or five sweepers back there.

“Some members of the club were not happy with the team at the start of the league saying that we weren’t fit. But Tom knew exactly what he was doing over the months and that’s the experience that he has. We are all as fit as we have ever been in our lives now and he has us all peaking at the right time.”